2026-03-10 19:34:00
Oil prices are rising once again after a CNN report said Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The report says that only ‘a few dozen’ are in place so far but that Iran is using small boats. This echoes the prior report from CBS that said Iran was ‘preparing’ mines.
The report from CNN said Iran could deploy hundreds more mines and the CBS report said it had 3-6000 mines.
The issues is that de-mining is a time-intensive task at best and that could keep the Strait closed. That said, I wonder if it would even take that long to open a shipping channel.
For background, modern naval mines are “smart” weapons that don’t need to touch a ship to destroy it. Instead of physical contact, they use electronic sensors to detect a ship’s “signature.” This includes the sound of engines (acoustic), changes in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by steel hulls (magnetic), or the unique water displacement a vessel creates (pressure).
Sophisticated onboard computers allow these mines to ignore decoys or count passing ships to target a specific vessel in a convoy. When they detonate, the underwater explosion creates a massive gas bubble that physically lifts and then snaps the ship’s keel.
Anti-mine technology is now largely done via drones and we may find out exactly what capabilities the US has in that regard, as it’s no doubt been planning for this for awhile.
